the flaw in being perfect - rini au

thirty

"Hey," Nini calls as she raises her arm timidly to wave Ricky to her table.

Ricky walks over, hands shoved in his pockets.

Nini can tell he's in a rough state.

"How do you like your coffee?" Nini asks, standing up. "I can order you some."

"Oh, you don't have to," Ricky starts.

"I'd like to, if you'll let me." Nini bites the inside of her cheek nervously.

Ricky softens a bit. "Um," he starts. "An Americano is fine."

Nini nods and walks to the counter with her purse while Ricky takes a seat at the table.

Why is Ricky so nervous right now? He's hung out with her alone before.

This time she knows there's something wrong.

Ricky starts to think about the difference between how she's handling him when she knows something is wrong versus how he handled it with her.

He was forward and nosy, and she's being subtle and helpful. Why is she doing that when he was such a dick?

Nini returns momentarily, claiming that their names will be called when their drinks are ready.

They sit in silence for a bit before Nini breaks it. "We don't have to talk about whatever is going on, but I'd just like you to know that I'm here. Even if you want to talk about something else for a distraction, I'm here."

Ricky puffs up his cheeks and blows out air, running his hands through his curls.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of it, I just know that I want to talk about things sometimes and I don't and it's not the best tactic..." Nini trails off nervously.

"It's— Um. It's not you. Sorry." Ricky looks away for a pause then looks back to Nini. "Why are you so nice to me?"

Nini blinks a few times, caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I was just such an asshole at first and you seemed to forgive me so fast? I don't know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Ricky shakes his head, looking away.

Nini grabs Ricky's hand across the table, causing him to look back at her. "Ricky, I'm nice to you because you deserve for someone to be nice to you. You had your guard up at first, yeah, but we all do that to defend ourselves sometimes. You're new here and that's scary. Not all days can be good. I just happened to meet you on a bad one."

"How do you look at life like that?" Ricky asks, genuinely wondering what goes on in the girl's head.

"I have no other choice." Nini states simply.

"There's always a choice," Ricky counters. "You're choosing to see good."

"I can't think there's another choice." Nini's voice breaks mid-sentence, pulling her hand away.

Ricky is about to respond, but he's cut off by the call of the barista.

"Nini! Ricky! Your Americano and your ginger tea!"

"I can get them," Nini says quickly, pushing her chair back and standing up, walking to the counter swiftly.

Ricky is very confused, but he can tell that Nini doesn't want to talk about that anymore, so bringing it back up right now would be insensitive.

When Nini gets back with the drinks, Ricky tries to start a new conversation.

"How do you know Seb?"

"We work together," Nini responds, swirling her tea with a stir stick, though she hasn't added anything in. "It's a fairytale party company. We dress up as fairytale characters like princesses and princes and superheroes and act as though we're the characters for kids."

"That sounds fun." Ricky smiles, pretending this isn't something he already had found out. He has a feeling it would be creepy if he said the internet already told him this. "Now all I can think about is you dressed as a princess."

"I suppose your nickname for me is a little true when that happens, isn't it?" Nini glances up from her tea, a soft smile adorning her face.

"Of course it is, Princess."

Nini lets out a small laugh. "You're ridiculous."

"Maybe a little," Ricky admits.

For just a little while in that coffee shop, Nini helped Ricky forget about everything at home.

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they're bondinggg <3

-jenna